It belongs to the state of the art to supply printed products, such as newspapers, periodicals, magazines, brochures or partial or intermediate products thereof to a stacking operation in a substantially upright position (principal surfaces essentially vertical), overlapping one another (imbricated formation) and in an e.g. vertical or horizontal supply direction. For being stacked, the printed products are redirected by approximately 90° into a usually practically horizontal or slightly downward sloping stacking direction wherein on redirection their spatial orientation remains unchanged such that after redirection they are arranged in a stack-like manner. In this stack-like arrangement, the printed products are oriented substantially perpendicular to the stacking direction and they are aligned with one another. They are conveyed onwards in the stacking direction perpendicular to the supply direction, usually being pushed by newly supplied printed products. A downstream end of the stack-like arrangement is supported and the printed products are arranged in such a tight manner, that they mutually stabilize one another in their upright standing position. From the downstream end of the stack-like arrangement, discrete stacks are separated or detached and conveyed away for e.g. being strapped or packed, wherein each of the discrete stacks contains a predefined number of printed products or has a predefined length.
A device for producing stacks in the manner briefly described above is disclosed, for example, in the publication U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,003.